Why I’ll Be Supporting Partick Thistle Next Season

Date: 18th May 2020

I’ve been a bit of a football nomad in the last eight years. I haven’t had a club team to support in all that time.

My appetite for football hasn’t vanished, I have actually widened my experiences. Instead of devoting all my time to one team and fretting if they’ll win or lose, I have relished going to football games and enjoying different atmospheres. That has seen me going to Junior games and falling in love with how they do things at that level and going abroad and experiencing football in different countries.

Yet next season I plan to make Partick Thistle my football club of choice and I hope to get to a few games once it’s safe to do so.

There’s plenty of reasons that have drawn me closer to The Jags.

I’ve had quite a few dealings with the club and their support in recent years and on each and every occasion they’ve been wonderful and welcoming!

During this Covid-19 pandemic the Firhill club have really stepped up in my opinion.

I have an eighty year old uncle and he has been in isolation for a few months now. My uncle is a very proud man and he’s also super active. He enjoys skiing holidays and hiking. So to be shielded away from everyone has been extremely tough for him.

Many years ago, he moved up north and now stays near Aberdeen but he was brought up in Scotstoun and is an avid Jags fan. Any time Partick Thistle play up north he does his best to get to the game, as well as going to Firhill whenever he’s back down in Glasgow.

I contacted Jags chairman Jacqui Low and asked if anyone at the club could send my Uncle a wee message to help boost his morale. Within twenty-four hours, Patrick Thistle manager Ian McCall had personally emailed my Uncle. It was very touching gesture and one I am extremely grateful for.

For those of you that read these blogs regularly, you will know that I’m against relegating any side this season. I see no sporting integrity in relegating a team that haven’t had the proper opportunity to save themselves. At the moment it looks like The SPFL are willing to relegate Partick Thistle even though they are two points off ninth spot and have a game in hand. That, for me, is unjust!

I also love the fact that The Jags are a very inclusive football club. They hold ladies days at games in attempts to bring in more female spectators and then there’s the Proud Jags group. The Proud Jags want to eradicate things like homophobic abuse from football, raise important issues and in turn hope that more from the LGBT+ community will come to Firhill and watch football in a safe environment.

The Partick Thistle Charitable Trust have also worked wonders during this crisis. Every week they have delivered thousands of meals to those that need them, hundreds of bottles of sanitiser and self-help books.

I’ve actually been so impressed by the work of the Charitable Trust that I have recently donated to help them continue with their worthwhile causes.

Partick Thistle have stepped up, under very difficult circumstances, and supported their local community in such an impactful way. They lookout for the vulnerable and they encourage equality. That’s why I want to support The Jags when football returns to normality. They have supported my family and the Glasgow community during this pandemic and I will support them after it.